To Multiply or Divide?

​To multiply or divide? Which one is it??

These are some key words you might come across in a word problem that will help you decide.

Also it could help to answer these questions:

• Do you know the total amount?

• Do you know the number of groups or the amount in each group?

​When to multiply or divide

What should you do?

​Janet had 36 balloons. She wanted to split them into 6 groups. How many balloons will be in each group?

What should you do?

​Janet had 36 balloons. She wanted to split them into 6 groups. How many balloons will be in each group?

What should you do?

Marco and his three friends each buy two scoops of ice cream. How many total scoops did they buy?

What should you do?

Marco and his three friends each buy two scoops of ice cream. How many total scoops did they buy?

Multiple Choice

Ben baked 24 cookies. If he eats two cookies a day, how many days will the cookies last?

• multiplication

• division

Multiple Choice

Valerie earns $12.50 per hour. if she worked 17 hours last week, how much money did she earn?

• multiplication

• division

Multiple Choice

Lilly has five toys in every room of the house. There are six different rooms. How many toys does Lilly have?

• multiplication

• division

Multiple Choice

Harry used 72 stamps to mail 9 letters. He used the same amount of stamps of each letter. How many stamps did Harry put on each letter?

• multiplication

• division

Multiple Choice

Mrs. Wilcox puts six students at every table. She has four tables. How many students are in Mrs. Wilcox's class?

• multiplication

• division

Multiple Choice

A group of 8 students collected a total of 56 cans for recycling. If they each collected the same amount, how many cans did each student collect?

• multiplication

• division

Multiple Choice

Meg went to the grocery store and bought 2 boxes of granola bars. There were 3 granola bars in each box. How many granola bars did Meg buy in all?

• multiplication

• division

Multiple Choice

Patrick earns $5 for every car he washes. If Patrick washes twelve cars, how much money will he make?

• multiplication

• division

Multiple Choice

Luca has 40 slices of pizza. If each pizza comes with eight slices, how many pizzas did Luca buy?

• multiplication

• division

Multiple Choice

Liz can skate around the park in 2 minutes. How many laps can she skate in 14 minutes?

• multiplication

• division